In a communications system, when a network side pages a user equipment in an idle state, a URA_PCH (UTRAN registration area paging channel) state, or a CELL_PCH (CELL paging channel) state, the network side sends a paging message.
Currently, a method for sending a paging message is provided, which is specifically: calculating, by a network side, a paging occasion for paged user equipment, and sending a paging message to the paged user equipment on the paging occasion, where the paging message carries an identity of the paged user equipment and paging data. When the paging occasion for the user equipment arrives, the user equipment listens to a PICH (page indicator channel) channel, and parses a page indicator value in the PICH channel. If the page indicator value that is in the PICH channel and obtained by means of parsing is 1, the user equipment receives the paging message. The user equipment determines whether an identity of the user equipment and an identity carried in the paging message are the same; if the identity of the user equipment and the identity carried in the paging message are the same, keeps the paging data; and if the identity of the user equipment and the identity carried in the paging message are different, discards the paging data.
In a process of implementing the present invention, the inventor finds that at least the following problem exists in the prior art:
Because a cell includes a relatively large quantity of user equipments, and it may possibly occur that paging occasions of multiple user equipments arrive at a same time and the multiple user equipments will each listen to a PICH channel, if page indicator values obtained by means of parsing by the multiple user equipments are all 1, the multiple user equipments each receive the paging message; after the paging message is received, however, it is determined that the paging message is not sent for a user equipment that receives the paging message; as a result, another user equipment than the paged user equipment, in the multiple user equipments, receives an unnecessary paging message, leading to a relatively large quantity of electricity consumed by the user equipment.